For many, Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) serves as an annual opportunity to get new readers (as well as old ones) into the hobby by offering a wide selection of books that they would not normally pick up. But in recent years, the status quo of FCBD in the Philippines has evolved beyond its original purpose and into an event wherein the local comic distributors and artists give back to comic book community.

For me, the highlight of FCBD 2017 was being able to attend Leinil Yu’s signing over at Filbar’s Megamall.[i] Without going into great detail, Leinil was very gracious and accommodating. Thank you again Leinil!

After lunch at Pepper Lunch[ii], I proceeded to Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street where I was able to get free copies of Wonder Woman: Rebirth (Special Edition) #1 and Skottie Young’s I Hate Image before they ran out of stocks. From what I heard, I Hate Image is an amalgamation of a number of Image Comics’ popular titles and that it’s original art Read more…

Aside from getting into an early screening of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | I was able to find several issues on sale for P200 over at Comic Quest. Issues 7-9, 17-18 of Fatale, Issue 2 of High Roads and Issues 6-7 of IDW’s Ghostbusters for the Fam

As part of my education as an aspiring comic book writer, I have made it a point to find time to listen to the creative process of other writers. It is a mandate has also made me more open to the idea of reading books that fall outside the Marvel and DC Comics spectrum.[i] This will be the first of many posts where I’ll try to pass on what I’ve learned about the creative writing process or maybe something about comics in general.

The difference between single issues and trade paperbacks

In one particular interview featuring writer Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Kill or Be Killed), someone asked if the essays located in the backspace[ii] of several issues of Fatale[iii] would ever be compiled into a trade paperback or featured as additional material in future editions of Fatale.

Brubaker’s response was simple: No.

He reasoned that it was a complicated process as there were many authors who had contributed essays throughout Fatale’s 24-issue run. These were published as one-offs–meaning that any subsequent publishing would require consent from the aforementioned authors.

Therefore, the essay material would then remain exclusively in the single issues and serve–at least in my mind–as an added incentive to get them.[iv]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (The non-spoiler edition)

Was with the Fam yesterday and we were able to catch the 9:00 pm advance showing of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Came home today with Amazing Spider-Man #24, Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy #5, The Fix #8, and Motor Girl #1, #2, and #3.

Do you remember when you stopped collecting comics?

I do.

The day, February 26, 2017.

The History

It was coming as I had grown increasingly weary of Marvel’s continuing reboots and simply wanted to finish Dan Slott’s current Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy arc–the first current Marvel title I’ve collected since that late 90’s.

Slott, Spider-Man’s incumbent writer, had caught my eye in 2015 with his Superior Spider-Man run. For those unfamiliar with the book, the premise alone was intriguing: What would happened if a dying Doctor Octopus was able to switch bodies with the Amazing Spider-Man Peter Benjamin Parker?

Lego Fun: It’s been 9 years since I put together my last Lego play set. Good times!

Have you guys seen the movie?

Well, don’t worry, I’m not going to give anything substantial away.

But I will say this much, from the amount of mini figures at appeared on the big screen, I could almost imagine the powers that be over at Lego and DC Comics locking arms and literally doing the dance of joy. It was after all an instant merchandise bonanza and commercial success.

In the Lego Batman movie, Lego Batman has loads of Batsuit mini figures that is sure (you can take that to the bank) to be released sometime this year. And the Condiment King! I can’t wait for that one. But I digress, my point here is that under different circumstances, I would be a staunch opposed to variant Batmans. But somehow, this marketing gimmick seems to work in the Lego world.

With all this in mind, I decided to take a dip and purchase some of the Lego Batman Movie sets such as the Mr. Freeze Ice Attack (70901) and the Clayface Splat Attack (70904). It seems that everything is falling under the attack category these days. But seriously speaking, these are two of the cooler (pun intended) sets out there as they come with deluxe Lego figures in Mr. Freeze and Clayface.

Here is a time-lapse video of working on Clayface, Lego Batman, and Mayor McCaskill this afternoon. The whole thing took an estimated 1 hour and 28 minutes to complete.

Clockwise: And then there were two. Notice the now defunct Press Cafe. | Comic Odyssey’s window display on the 4th floor of Fully Booked ATC. | Picked up several issues of Terry Moore’s Echo [Issues #10, #16, #18, #19, #23, and #24]. | Panoramic shot of Comic Odyssey. Thanks for the memories.

I wasn’t planning on writing about this today but I just got word earlier this evening that Comic Odyssey in Alabang Town Center will be moving from the 4th to the 2nd floor of Fully Booked Alabang by Thursday (February 8, 2017).

My sources tell me that the 3rd and 4th floors are to be rented out to the real estate group Alveo Land. Real estate and books: What an odd and soon to be familiar combination considering that the only way to access the third and fourth floors of the premises are through the escalator and elevator located on the ground floor.

This development would mean that the modest book selection of Fully Booked will become even smaller as the merchandise from the 3rd and 4th floor will now merge with the 1st and second floor. Comic Odyssey is set to have a nice slice of the 2nd floor, but I am sure that given their space constraints, they would have to be conservative with their comic titles as well.

It’s news like this that breaks my heart on so many levels. Doesn’t anyone read anymore? Don’t they realize that by not patronizing our local book and comic books shops that we–the consumers–would ultimately lose out in the end. If the stores don’t make anything, they will be forced to close their doors while consumers would lose out on that chance, that opportunity, to have a very personal and intimate experience that only a book can give.

If Jim Lee wasn’t already a superstar artist, working on Batman cemented it.

For the last few years, those who have come to my clinic have seen this poster on my wall: Batman and Nightwing running in the rooftops of Gotham City.

The poster was inspired by the Batman (1940) #615 cover of superstar artist Jim Lee. Back in 2003 (or was it 2004), D.C. Comics marketed these Hush posters but not to long after–they stopped producing them for some reason.

To this day, I think D.C. Comics has yet to reissue them.

In its place will be a permanent wooden/glass display case that will be the future home of my art collection.